Sermon by Matt Kennedy
text: Jonah 4:4-10
Sunday January 29th, 2011

Last week we saw that God didn’t do what Jonah wanted him to do so Jonah got angry. God forgave the ruthless, child-sacrificing, Ninevites who repented and turned to him.

Of course, if YHWH were the god Jonah wanted him to be—full of unbending wrath for the wicked, there’d be no more Jonah. When I consider the evil some people do I sometimes think—why doesn’t God do something about that guy? Bernie Madoff; Larry Sandusky? The angels must ask the same question about you and me. Why is Matt still breathing?

Thankfully, God is who he is and not the god of Jonah’s desires or my own.

Instead of fire from the sky God asks a question (v.4).

Some of you have read Plato. Plato was a student of the philosopher Socrates and recorded many of Socrates’ conversations or “dialogs”. Socrates taught by asking questions that ultimately lead you to realize that you’re dumber than a bag of hammers and Socrates is brilliant. The great thing about the Socratic Method is that instead of someone just telling you, “this is how it is”, asking questions allows you to come to the conclusion yourself. The questions help you reason. It’s actually a very gentle way of persuasion. Socrates could’ve just said, “shut up and take notes. You’ll all be smarter afterwards.” But he wanted his students to get it for themselves. He wanted his wisdom to become their wisdom. God deals with Jonah in much the same way. God questions Jonah—to show him, rather than tell him—just how hard his heart has become.

Do you do well to be angry?(v.4)

Jonah remains silent. But his actions are clear enough. v.5 “Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city.”

The word “booth” recalls the “booths” the Hebrews built in the wilderness after God rescued them from slavery in Egypt. That provides insight into Jonah’s attitude. Nineveh is Egypt. And he longs for the plagues to fall.  Yes. I do well.

The city and everyone in it, has repented and turned to YHWH. What does Nineveh need most? What do new believers need most? Peter (1 Peter 2:2) likens new believers to newborn babies—they need milk. And milk, for Peter, is the “word of the Lord that has been preached”(1:25). The sign of life in an infant is desire for breath and milk. The sign of new-birth is an insatiable hunger to feed on God. You don’t have to corral new believers to church, no cajoling new believers to small group bible study. Living babies need and demand milk and as soon as they’re born. And the church better be able to give it to them.

So here’s this city full of spiritual babies…who don’t know their right hand from their left…they have no Old Testament. They have nothing. And there’s Jonah. A prophet. A teacher.

But where’s he headed? Out of town.

Chapter 3 contains the greatest miracle of the book. God sent a storm, God sent a fish. God made the fish throw up, awesome…but more amazing: God raised a city full of cold hearted, spiritually dead people to new life. Jonah saw it, a living breathing testimony to God’s love for lost people…but he’s unmoved. He goes the other way. He’d rather watch God’s newborn babies die.

It’s interesting. At Good Shepherd There are mature disciples who’ve followed Jesus for years and there are newborn believers, immature Christians, Christians stumbling around trying to figure it all out. We’ve said this many times: it’s crucial for mature Christians to make the effort to meet, build a relationship, read the bible with, invite to mission group, share wisdom with less mature Christians newborns especially. That’s how new converts become disciples.

Here’s why that’s hard: Babies are often smelly, messy and loud. New believers can be that way too. They may have habits you find offensive. They may not be as educated as you. Maybe they come from a different culture or just a really bad neighborhood. I’ve noticed a reluctance—and I don’t know all the reasons—to say hey why don’t we get together for coffee. Or why not bring your kids over to play with my kids and we can talk. I do know there hungry people here. And there are people who know how to feed and how to get fed.

So Jonah’s built a booth for himself but it’s insufficient. You can picture him out there, waiting for God to repent and destroy Nineveh, sulking, sullen, hot. I’d be tempted to leave him there to rot…but God has other plans. 

“6Now the Lord God appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant.”

The KJV calls it a “gourd.” Many OT scholars want to figure out what species does this. My guess is that they won’t ever find one—and we’ll probably never find a fish that can swallow a man and keep him alive for 72 hours. And we’ll never find a pregnant virgin. But with God all things are possible. The key word in verse 6 is “appointed” Remember, God appointed the fish too. And later God appoints a sandstorm. These are all miraculous acts. God spoke and the universe leapt into being out of nothing…making a plant grow overnight isn’t rocket science. God miraculously causes a great plant with big leaves to grow fast, overnight, to save Jonah from his “discomfort.”

“Discomfort” is ra’ah is better translated: “evil”. It’s the same word used in verse one: “but it [God’s mercy] was exceedingly evil to Jonah”

There’s a word-play here. Jonah’s “evil” bodily suffering is like his “evil” heart—God will somehow use the plant to save him from them both.

Jonah is “exceedingly” glad about the plant. Back in verse 1 God’s grace to Nineveh was “exceedingly” evil to Jonah. Same word. The implication is that the lives of 120,000 people and the comfort of a shady plant are emotional equivalents for Jonah. He’s just as happy about the plant as he is angry about Nineveh. That tells us something about the “evil” of Jonah’s heart. He’s a self-centered guy isn’t he? He’s exceedingly angry when God doesn’t fulfill his desires for vengeance. He’s exceedingly happy when God provides a shady plant. Really, it’s all about Jonah.

So what’s God going to do?

“7But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered. 8When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint.”

God appoints a plant. God destroys the plant. God appoints a fierce windstorm. God’s in control throughout. He’s the cause of Jonah’s comfort and his suffering. If this set of events were to occur today some Christians would start praying against demons—because many’ve been taught that God never wants you to feel bad. He never wants you to be miserable. He always wants you to be happy, wealthy, and healthy. So sickness, failure, misery is always demonic. But God is the source of Jonah’s suffering. God makes Jonah miserable, not the devil.

Here’s why this matters: If you think God only wants you to be healthy, happy and prosperous, you’ll attribute illness, failure, misery to demons or chance and so you’ll pray against demonic and you’ll totally miss the good that God has for you in suffering. In failure. In pain. 

You all know Roman 8:28 right…God “causes all things to work for the good of those who love him and who are called according to his purposes” (Rom 8.28) that means that even what we experience as painful God causes to work for our good. Sometimes, as with Jonah, it’s only through pain, suffering, frustration, that that good is realized.

God’s making Jonah miserable here…but his purpose is Jonah’s life.

So Jonah (still 8) for the second time asks for death,

“And he asked that he might die and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.”

He’s been broken. Physically, emotionally, spiritually, in every way. Then God speaks again.

“9Do you do well to be angry for the plant?”

The same question he asked in v.4. But instead being angry about the life of a city, now Jonah’s angry about the death of a plant. And this time Jonah answers God’s question:

“Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.”

Look what you’ve done to my comfort. Look what you’ve done to my plant, the shade over my head. I’m out here suffering in this desert, far away from home, all because you called me to this horrid city and now you’ve killed my plant.

I was incredibly frustrated last week. My three year old specially designed desktop, cashed out. Died. It won’t even start now. I have a laptop but it’s not the same. I’ve been trying decide whether trash it or to fix it. Either way it’ll be a huge pain because I don’t have time to deal with it. Ask Anne what I was like last week. I was cursing mad, kicking things, yelling to myself and at her and at the kids.

That’s how Jonah is thinking right now. But now God closes the trap:

“10And the Lord said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. 11 And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?”

Jonah didn’t make the plant grow. It just made him happy. By contrast God made each of the 120,000 human beings in Nineveh in his own image, knitting them together in the womb, designing each for eternal life with him. They didn’t know God until Jonah came to preach, but God knew each Ninevite and loved each Ninevite from before the beginning. And now, having turned to YHWH, they’re like 120,000 infants who do not know their right hand from their left. But what’s Jonah worried about? He’s really really invested in this plant.

What frustrated you most last week? Was it that people God created, loves, and longs for are living and dying all around me without ever hearing the gospel. Was it that some newborn believers aren’t being fed? Was it that one of our brothers or sisters may be struggling with sin or loss and on the verge of falling? My week was consumed by my computer. I’m spitting mad at God because my computer dies, meanwhile, God’s heart is centered on those all around me dying because they don’t know his Son, his heart is with his newborns starving for milk. On his lost sheep who’ve fallen away. But hey, my computer’s broken so what do I care.

So here’s the mirror that’s just been held up to Jonah’s face. Gods says, let’s compare your heart to mine. You’re upset when your personal life is inconvenienced. I’m upset at the potential death and damnation of 120,000 people I love. Do you see a problem here? And I suppose we could ask ourselves the same question.

Application

Prayer

audio coming soon

Sermon by Matt Kennedy
Text: Jonah 4:1-4
Sunday, January 22, 2012

There should’ve been one chapter to the book of Jonah. Chapter 3 is a portrait of perfection. God calls Jonah to preach to Nineveh. Jonah obeys and preaches to Nineveh. Nineveh repents. God forgives. That should’ve been it. There’s only one reason we have four chapters instead of one—at every turn God’s love for sinners, his desire that none should perish is opposed by his prophet. In the first two chapters Jonah defies God and fails. In chapter 4, Jonah moves from failed defiance to contempt

Contempt is a strong word. It means to despise. I read a story this week about a woman who had contempt for her husband. He was an insecure man. As a boy his parents had abandoned him. As an adult he’d been betrayed in a number of relationships and friendships. Knowing this, she purposefully flirted with other men in order to make him so afraid that she’d leave that he’d do anything to appease her. It all broke down when he became a Christian—he found in Jesus one who would never forsake him. So he said to his wife: if you’re going to cheat on me, go ahead, I can’t stop you, I want to be with you, but I don’t need you. She was enraged, showered him with insults, flirted even more, nothing worked. He wasn’t going to be who she wanted him to be anymore. So she despised him. The problem was that, despite their vows, the woman had never been willing to truly give herself to her husband, never willing to know him or understand him. She labored under a deep seated self-centeredness. She was not looking for a marriage, she was looking for a mirror…a husband in her own image. When it didn’t work, contempt.

Something like that has happened with Jonah. God, for Jonah, is Israel’s God…loving Israel, judging her enemies. Jonah knows knows the law of Moses and the words of the prophets, but like the woman, he’s unwilling to give himself over to God, to know him or understand him. He’s not let God be God but assumed that God was like him, sharing his worldview, sharing his opinion about the Ninevites. And when it turns out that God’s character and purposes will not be shaped by Jonah’s character and purposes, when God proves uncontrollable, Jonah is beside himself with contempt.

“But it displeased Jonah exceedingly and he was angry.” In Hebrew those first words read “and it was exceedingly evil to Jonah” This is not simple displeasure, this is contempt. It may be difficult to understand Jonah but put yourself in his place: Jewish children had been killed, Jewish women raped and enslaved, Jewish men slaughtered. And God has mercy. It is evil in Jonah’s site.

Has God’s action or apparent inaction ever seemed evil to you? Who here has not questioned God’s character in the face of the death of a child, the stolen innocence of a young girl, ethnic cleansing at the hands of tyrannical a ruler who roams free and prosperous and dies old, rich, and comfortable. Who has not felt the sting of injustice, unfairness, while God, seemingly, does nothing. In the face of these things, I’m sometimes right there with Jonah. So let’s have some compassion. We’ve all been there.

But for all his faults, Jonah does do the right thing with his anger. Often when people are angry with God they cut him off. This is how friendships end, how families fracture and divide—we get angry, hurt, and that’s it. You’re dead to me.  Jonah does the opposite. He’s irreverent, but he opens his heart and lets God see his anger.

“2And he prayed to the Lord and said, ‘O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.”

It seems that when I’m most angry with God it’s because I don’t know what he’s doing. I don’t understand why he allowed something to happen. And comfort comes when I meditate on what the bible reveals about character. I don’t know why God let those two little boys die in that crash on airport road this month, but I do know God loves children, that Jesus said his kingdom is made for them. So I can rest knowing that both little boys are now in Jesus’ arms. I don’t know why God let Joseph Stalin that unrepentant homicidal tyrant who murdered millions die peacefully, in his own home, surrounded by wealth—but I do know that God is just and death did not rescue him from judgment.

But Jonah’s anger doesn’t arise from ignorance of God’s purposes but from revelation. In verse two, Jonah quotes God’s own self-description, given to Moses on Mt Sinai. Moses prayed: Lord show me your face. God said: If you see my face you’ll die. So he hid Moses in the cleft of a Rock and passed by. As he did, he revealed himself in words: “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness…” (Ex 34.6)

Not only am I a God who does not punish as you deserve but, above and beyond that, I’m a God who pours out blessings in abundance to those who deserve death. I love sinners and I remain faithful to my promise of mercy even when you’re unfaithful to your promise of obedience.

Jonah knew this but had assumed it applied to God’s dealings with the biological descendants of Abraham alone. In chapter 1 Jonah learned the truth; that love, patience, mercy, grace exist and originate at the core of God’s’ being and character. God is love, grace, mercy, patience, and he’s all these things with impartiality—not only toward the sons and daughters of Abraham but to the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve, toward all who, like the Ninevites, and turn from themselves and embrace his Word, his Son. The Father welcomes all who repent and surrender to become inheritors of all the promises he’s ever made—they are all Yes, as Paul says, in Christ, Jesus.

Though neither the Ninevites nor Jonah know Jesus of Nazareth because he’s yet to be born, they do know God the Son, the Word of God, who is in the OT, the Promise of Salvation who will be made flesh in the New. It is because of him and his work that God offers mercy to all who come.

It is this, God’s revealed character, that Jonah considers evil. It’s God’s own Word that Jonah holds in contempt. It’s the knowledge of God that drives him away …he’d rather be dead. “Take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”

People in our culture rarely despise the inclusiveness of God’s mercy. It’s not so rare in other cultures in other times. At the same time, the form God’s grace and mercy takes is quite often unbearable.

He opens his home for all to come, but there is only one door—Jesus Christ. To receive life one must step through, leaving all else behind, and receive Christ. There is no other way. Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, every other ism is insufficient, false. And this is not man-made dogma, it goes back to Jesus himself. “I am the way, I am the Truth, I am the life” he says “no one comes to the Father but through me.”

There is a reason for that: He’s the only one not only demands righteousness but gives it. Who requires punishment for sin, but becomes sin himself, takes up the curse, and gives his life in the place condemned. He alone says there is no work, no ritual, no discipline, no practice that will earn you any merit because whatever we do we’ll never be succeed in changing our hearts. We’ll never be good enough. We do not need a religion, we need a savior. And he is the only one on offer so your only hope is to surrender yourself and trust in him.

And yet as exclusive as the call may sound, it is inclusive to all. Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims—whatever language, color, character, or lifestyle—Whether you’re self disciplined or lazy, whether you live a respectable life or a life of sex drugs and rock and roll, computer nerds and quarterbacks, Ninevites and Israelites, the door is open, you’re invited to walk through and cling to Jesus Christ.

Bv contrast, human-made religion looks a lot like what humans want. It gives one group of people the opportunity to show themselves superior to another group of people. Conservative religion does this by clothing its practitioners in a veneer of external moral purity and discipline and shaming those who don’t make the moral grade. Liberal religion the same thing by clothing itself in environmentalism, socialism and humanitarianism and shaming those who eat the wrong food, drive the wrong car, wear the wrong clothes. Both forms of religion allow us to elevate ourselves above one another, to exalt me over thee.

But Christianity destroys all pretension. The prerequisite is to say: I have nothing and deserve nothing. I am a sinner and I’m too corrupt to save myself. All I can do is give up and cling to the Promise of Salvation in Jesus Christ. There’s no pride in that, no boasting, no superiority.

But tragically, many come face to face with this promise…and with Jonah say to themselves, I’d rather die.

But lest we ourselves feel superior, do notice the tension at the heart of this entire book. God has revealed his heart to Jonah, to offer mercy to sinners. And Jonah has become the antagonist. While we in our heads love this God who seeks the lost, how many times does God have to say to us at Good Shepherd, go, share my word with your neighbors. Share my Son with your family. Talk about me in your office. We would often rather die than do it. We must ask: why, of all the ministries at Good Shepherd, the evangelism ministry is the one always the most lacking in willing volunteers? Why is it that one of the reasons a number of people have decided not to join mission groups is because the name “mission” makes people shy away. Are we also God’s antagonists.  He is saying, I want mercy for Binghamton and do we, by our actions if not our words, say No.

We’re not openly contemptuous of God’s love for the lost as Jonah is but effectually there is little difference. We may not “say” no to our Father…but how often, we refuse to work in his vineyard.

So how is God going to deal with us? Recalcitrant, stubborn, unwilling to let his desires be our desires. What will God do to Jonah?

Come, let us reason together he says. “And the Lord said, “Do you do well to be angry?”

No fire from heaven…a gentle but piercing question. Do you do well to be angry? Do you do well to hold my character in contempt?

And God, as he shown himself from the first verses of chapter 1 till now, as he has shown himself to you and me all our lives, shows himself again to be a God “merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.”

Next week, we’ll return and let God reason with us.

This year is a big one for Anne and me. It will be our tenth year at Good Shepherd and Good Shepherd is our first and only experience pastoring an entire congregation. I’ve never been a pastor anywhere else which means you’ve had to put up with all our mistakes and inexperience…and there will be more where that came from.

We arrived in Binghamton when Anne was pregnant with Emma, the summer of 2002.  Good Shepherd was very small then—about 47 people on a Sunday.  The average age was around 60.

Our task as we saw it at the time was to lay a biblical foundation—to teach scripture, preach scripture, and encourage a love for scripture which produces, love for and knowledge of Jesus Christ

The first thing we did was start the Tuesday Morning Bible Study. There hadn’t been a bible study at Good Shepherd for many years. The goal of that study was and remains to take a book of the bible and study it together verse by verse, chapter by chapter. There was nothing fancy about it. No audio/visual, no expensive curriculum. Just a group of people and the bible

To everyone’s surprise, including my own, people loved it. A core of people developed and it grew. A number of people met Jesus for the first time on Tuesday mornings and God used it to change hearts and minds.

A little later we added the Tuesday evening bible study which originally met in my home. Then, in 2004, we added the Beginners Bible Study. And in 2005 we started the Men’s Breakfast and Bible study and the Women’s Bible Study.  So that by the end of the year we had 5 bible studies going which were all pretty full of people. God brought people to faith and minds, hearts and lives were changed.

The change in the church was dramatic.

First, God started bringing more people to Good Shepherd; not just Christians moving from one church to another but non-Christians, un-churched people, would just “drop in” on a Sunday morning, hear the sermon, get hooked up to a bible study and either immediately or over time, commit their lives to Christ.

By 2005 we had an average Sunday attendance of around 70, up from 47, and of those around 75% were in at least one of the bible studies.

Second, people started listening to the sermons. When I arrived, people hated sermons. At least that’s what it seemed like. I was told to keep it under 12 minutes or else you’ll lose everyone’s attention and the church will die. Heh.

Instead, beginning in around 2004, Anne and I started preaching through whole texts of scripture, verse by verse. And instead of shrinking, the church continued to grow. The study of the bible, the real study of it, is a little like eating potato chips, except better for you. The more you study, the more you want. The bible studies evoked a willingness and ultimately a desire for more biblical substance from the pulpit.

My point is this: the word of God is powerful. It’s compelling. It’s not just compelling in the way a movie or a tv show might be—it is not always “emotionally compelling”—it is spiritually compelling. God compels your soul, your spirit, your mind, through scripture—he draws you to his Son and changes your life—and he changes the church.

The third change was in the way Good Shepherd interacted with the community. 2005 was the year the Shepherd’s Bowl started. The question was not: how do we grow Good Shepherd, but: here we are on the corner of Livingston and Conklin. There are 7 churches in this neighborhood but lots of people are poor, undereducated, with broken families, who don’t know Jesus. The church as a whole began to think through mission. How do we build a relationship with people beyond our walls so that we can love them as Jesus loved us and share the gospel?

It was around that time that the summer festival started, the neighborhood party where we closed off the street, had a free bbq, pony rides, and clowns.

We got involved with other churches around the area to bring Franklin Graham here.

The word of God, our corporate love for it and study of it, led to a kind of blossoming. We were bearing fruit. Lives were being changed in the church and God was using us to change lives in the community. That’s what happens when 75% of the people in a church are committed to studying scripture together. When a church is rooted in the Word of God, Disciples are made and the kingdom of God expands.

This just what Paul points out to the Colossians v.1:5-6

“We always thank God…when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you’ve heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth…”

What is the source of the fruit the Colossians are bearing? The word of truth. It’s not the Colossians. It’s not Paul. It is the word Paul preached and that they, the Colossians, received.

I wish I could say that due to my wise leadership, brilliant teaching, and superb preaching, the church has grown…or that it’s because we’re good and friendly people. But really, I could be the most charismatic speaker and you could all be the most wonderful people—but if we’re not rooted in the word of truth we’ll bear no real fruit.

Good Shepherd was just as friendly when there were only 47 of us, no bible studies, and 10 minute sermons. Things only started to change when God’s word became the foundation of our life together because God uses his Word to transform a crowd into a church.

In John 17, Jesus prays to his Father for his followers on the night before his crucifixion.

“Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.”
To be sanctified is to be made holy, to be set apart—it’s a process through which God washes away all the dross and muck of sin and selfishness until we reflect, fully and perfectly, the beauty, glory of Christ. One day we’ll think, live, act, and love like the Son of God. That’s where we’re headed.

And, as Jesus prays, God uses his word to do it.

As Paul says in Eph 5, Christ makes his church holy, “by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish…”

Paul’s speaking corporately there…about Christ’s bride, the church. This happens individually too, but here he’s talking about the gathering of believers, believers together as one body being cleansed by the word. 

All right so what all this means is that when people come to Good Shepherd and say, you guys are only a small church but you do so much in the community…we can say there’s one reason for that, God’s word is bearing fruit. Every hungry person fed, every lost person saved, every sick person healed, every poor person cared for…all of that is fruit that comes from being corporately rooted, grounded and nourished in the word of God.

Last year we launched Mission Groups. Mission Groups are small group bible studies meeting in people’s homes across the city. Let me explain briefly about the idea behind them. What happened here to us as a church? God used his word not only to change us but, over time, also to begin transforming the community around us. That’s great. But the church is not a place. It’s a gathering of people committed to growing in Jesus—becoming disciples and—as his disciples—extending his kingdom in the world.

That’s what happened here. The fuse was lit with the very first bible study. The purpose of Mission Groups is to light similar fuses all across Binghamton. Mission Groups, as they ground themselves in scripture together will bear fruit. Over time, they’ll build relationships with people in the neighborhood, they’ll discover and serve neighborhood needs, and as they build relationships they’ll have a platform for inviting lost people to know Jesus. This is precisely how the church of the first century spread from home to home until not only whole cities but ultimately, the empire itself was transformed.

I hope and pray that in the coming year, with God’s blessing and strength, we’ll be able to export what has taken place here throughout the city.

Now if you pull out your stats sheet you’ll notice some wonderful things there.

Our average Sunday Attendance this year is 132. Last year it was 114. That’s a bigger increase than any other time in the last 10 years. In fact, in the last several months we’ve been regularly topping 150

We had six baptisms, six confirmations, and only one funeral.
Membership has gone up too. Significantly.

All these trends are wonderful

But one number in particular keeps me up at night: In 2005, 75% of us were in bible studies.
Last year, 2011, 57% of us were in bible studies, mission groups, or Sunday school combined.

This is not good. It means people are coming to church but instead of getting together with other disciples and being grounded in the bible in a small group…we’re doing other things. If gathering around the word is how God sanctifies his church, brings forth growth, fruit, life in the world, and only half of us are surrendering to that process, we’re in trouble.

I know there are some of you who have dropped out of bible study or mission group. There are many more of you who have never even given them a try. Maybe you think studying the bible at home is sufficient. No doubt God uses that for you and for your good. But why would God want you to keep that good to yourself? Why do you think he created the church?  God uses his word to sanctify the church. It’s not just a personal thing, it’s a corporate thing. God wants you to study the bible and grow in knowledge and faith with other Christians in the church because the church is the vehicle he has chosen to extend his kingdom in the world. We’ve seen how he did that here at Good Shepherd since 2002. We can’t sit back now.

I think we are at a turning point though as a church.  Who we are and what we are is at stake. We recommit today to be rooted—each and everyone of us—in the word of God together. We make time in our schedules, we drop out of other things if necessary, we put our commitment to be followers of Jesus Christ first and that means letting ourselves be sanctified together by the word of Truth. The word of God is the beating heart of the church. It is the way God breathes life into you, into the church, and into the world.